ILD TUSKERS ON RAMPAGEIN JHAPA AFTER CALF KILLED Kathmandu, 14 June: A herd of nearly 150 tuskers created havoc at Bahundangi in Jhapa Wednesday after a calf was killed angry locals as elephants destroyed crops. Residents kept indoors to escape the rage. .nnnn 22 DHARAS OF BALAJU DRY UP Kathmandu, 14 June: The 22 dharas at Balaju constructed by Rana Bahadur Shah have dried up without a drop of water dripping, Ramila Maharjan writes in Nagarik, Locals are infuriated. nnnn PM SAYS ELECTION DECLARED TO END TRANSITION Kathmandu, 14 June: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai Wednesday said that the government had given top priority to protection and promotion of human rights in the Country, The Rising Nepal reports. The Prime Minister said this while addressing the programme organized to mark 12th anniversary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Saying that citizens basic human rights may not be ensured until the nation got rid of political transition, he said that the government was effortful to end existing political instability. The Prime Minister said that the country would find a way out from current deadlock through political consensus. He explained that declaration of election for Nov 22 after the dissolution of the CA was to prevent further prolongation of transition. Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai informed that the government was working as per the recommendation of the NHRC. He said that the government was positive to implement international declaration on human rights as a party to it. Saying that democracy was the basic principle of human rights, he said that the government was effortful to institutionalize it. The prime Minister said that the government provided 95 million rupees to the victims in the current fiscal year as per the recommendation of the NHRC. He said the government was working to end violence against women. Kedar Nath Upadhya, NHRC chairman, said that registration of complaints in the NHRC has gradually decreased for the last two or three years. He said that since its inception, the NHRC received 9221 complaints till April and it finalized 3664 of them. Residential representative of UNDP, Robert Piper, viewed that NHRC was unable to work efficiently due to lack of sufficient manpower although the people had great expectation from it. Bishal Khanal, NHRC secretary, complained that the government had delayed in fulfilling the vacant posts while the NHRC was working with 33 per cent of the total allocated quota. nnnn BASIC HEALTH FACILITIES BEYON REACHOF URBAN POOR Kathmandu, 14 June: Even two years after the government announced to implement the urban health progamme targeting the poor people of the city, Urban Health Clinics have not been established in Kathmandu Metropolis, The Rising Nepal reports. With the haphazard expansion and growing population, the cities are becoming a centre of several diseases. However, the urban poor are deprived of basic health facilities in absence of government mechanism to work for the poor of the cities. Two years ago, the government had announced to establish urban health clinics in different cities across the nation in order to increase the access of urban poor to basic health facilities. In these two years, 123 clinics were established in different cities. The government had announced to establish clinics in 10 places in Kathmandu--Bagbazaar, Shantinagar, Samakhushi, Kuleshwor residential area, Dhalko, Ombahal and Bhajangarl in Kirtipur, Primary Health Care Revitalization Division under the Department of Health Services informed. Due to the dispute among the political parties in selecting employees for the Kathmandu based clinics, the task of setting up the clinics was delayed, an employee of the division said under the condition of anonymity. The Metropolitan City should have established the clinics in the city in collaboration with the district public health office. Almost all municipalities in the country have already established the clinics. However, the only metropolis of the country, Kathamndu, has failed to establish them The government has been providing 42 types of essential medicines to the people at free of cost. The Interim Constitution has also identified health service as a basic right of the people. However, city dwellers are still deprived of the basic health facilities in the absence of proper mechanism, Dr. Aananda Kumar Shrestha, director of the Primary Health Care Revitalization Division, said. Under the free health services, people can get immunization, contraceptives, family planning services, and essential medicines. However, urban populations are unable to get these basic and free health services, he added. Although there are a number of hospitals in Kathmandu, no health institution is there to provide basic and free health service. "The government wants to address this problem in the cities through urban health programme, Dr. Shrestha added. The Division has already allocated Rs. 300,000 to each clinic of Kathmandu Metropolis to mange the needed manpower. However, no manpower was appointed. According to the division, there should be at least three employees: Health Assistant, Auxiliary Health Worker and Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery in clinics. According to the United Nation Development Programme, the urbanization ratio in Nepal was 4.8 per year and around 17 per cent Nepalese live in the citie Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “After Bhutan in South Asia, Nepal is the most peaceful nation in South Asia.) (Institute for Economics and Peace report, Nagarik, 14 June.) nnnn